Penn Fellows

The Penn Fellows Program provides leadership development to select Penn faculty in mid-career. Begun in 2009, it includes opportunities to build alliances across the university, meet distinguished academic leaders, think strategically about university governance, and consult with Penn’s senior administrators.

2017 Penn Fellows

Ezekiel Dixon-Román, Associate Professor and Chair, Data Analytics for Social Policy Certificate Program in the School of Social Policy and Practice, rethinks the use of quantitative methods from a critical theoretical lens, particularly for the study of social reproduction in human learning and development, such as inheritance and the social reproduction of “difference” and critical inquiry on social policies that seek to address issues of inequality, social mobility and education.

Daniel Gillion, Presidential Associate Professor of Political Science, School of Arts & Sciences, studies racial and ethnic politics, political behavior, public policy and the American presidency, including the role of protest and how political dialogue on race alters the public policy process and shapes societal and cultural norms to improve the lives of racial and ethnic minorities.

Carolina B. Lopez, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, studies the signals that turn on and regulate the immune system during infections with common respiratory viruses (such as the influenza virus or the respiratory syncytial virus), aiming to better understand the factors that modulate virus pathogenesis and develop better vaccines and antiviral therapies.

Christopher Marcinkoski, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, PennDesign, is a licensed architect and urban design consultant who studies “speculative urbanization”–the implications of urbanization activities that are out-of-sync with economic and demographic realities, most recently projects in Africa emulating speculative building in places such as Spain, Ireland, Dubai and China.

Katherine L. Nathanson, Professor of Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, studies the genetics of human cancer, both germline changes which confer susceptibility to cancer and somatic genetic changes associated with outcome, including germline genetic changes associated with breast cancer susceptibility, genetic changes associated with testicular cancer susceptibility and somatic genetic markers in melanoma as determinants of response to therapy.

Sandra Ryeom, Associate Professor of Cancer Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine, studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate the tumor microenvironment, with a particular focus on the vasculature, and how the tumor microenvironment is assembled and maintained, with particular focus on the generation and maintenance of the tumor blood supply (tumor angiogenesis), a dynamic process involving continuous elaboration and remodeling of blood vessels.

Maurice Schweitzer, Cecilia Yen Koo Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions in the Wharton School, studies emotions, ethical decision-making and the negotiation process, with a focus on trust and deception, including the recent co-authored Friend & Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete,and How to Succeed at Both, which examines how to maximize success by navigating between cooperation and competition.

Susan Yoon, Associate Professor in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Division in the Graduate School of Education, focuses on instructional improvement of complex systems in middle and high school science courses through the integration of learning tools such as mobile technologies and multi-computational models. She has worked in conjunction with the School District of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Zoo, and the Franklin Institute of Science Museum.

2016 Penn Fellows

Angela DeMichele, Alan and Jill Miller Professor in Breast Cancer Excellence in the Perelman School of Medicine, focuses on developing biomarkers, surveillance strategies and new therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat recurrent, metastatic breast cancer, as well as on research about survivorship.

Hanming Fang, Class of 1965 Term Professor of Economics in the School of Arts & Sciences, is an applied microeconomist focusing on public economics, including topics ranging from discrimination, social economics and welfare reform to public good provision mechanisms, auctions and health insurance markets.

Michael Horowitz, associate professor of political science in the School of Arts & Sciences and associate director of the Perry World House, studies military innovation, the future of war, the role of leaders in international politics, the relationships between religion and politics, and other topics with direct implications for public policy.

Hyun (Michel) Koo, professor of orthodontics in the School of Dental Medicine, focuses on understanding the assembly principles and virulence determinants of oral biofilms, as well as developing therapeutic approaches to prevent biofilm-dependent oral infectious diseases such as dental caries.

Sophia Lee, professor of law and history and deputy dean in the Law School, is a legal historian whose scholarship synthesizes labor, constitutional and administrative law, including such topics as challenges to workplace discrimination during the early Cold War and conservative legal movements in the post-New Deal era.

Jason Moore, Edward Rose Professor of Informatics in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics, studies genetics and biomedical informatics, especially the development, evaluation and application of novel computational and statistical algorithms for identifying combinations of DNA sequence variations and combinations of environmental factors that are predictive of common disease endpoints.

Christian Terwiesch, Andrew M. Heller Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions in the Wharton School, studies innovation, especially in healthcare and in innovation tournaments, which provide innovation opportunities for product designers, entrepreneurs and others in such areas as packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, financial services and technology.

2015 Penn Fellows

Marija Drndic, Professor of Physics in the School of Arts & Sciences, studies nanoscale and mesoscopic structures—including nanocrystals, nanowires and biomaterials—especially nanoelectronics and related quantum mechanical effects that arise when electrons are confined in small volumes.

Chao Guo, Associate Professor of Nonprofit Management in the School of Social Policy & Practice, studies the intersection of government with nonprofit and voluntary initiatives, especially in such contexts as nonprofit organizations, nonprofit advocacy, nonprofit governance, social entrepreneurship and volunteerism.

Lisa Lewis, Associate Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing, studies racial disparities in blood pressure control, especially psychosocial factors that contribute to medication adherence among African-Americans, such as spirituality, depression, social support and perceived discrimination.

Joshua Plotkin, Professor of Biology in the School of Arts & Sciences and professor of computer and information science in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, studies questions in evolutionary biology and ecology using techniques drawn from mathematics and computation, focusing primarily on adaptation in populations.

Alejandro Ribeiro, Associate Professor of Electrical & Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, studies wireless networks, especially the development of theoretical foundations for wireless networks and the application of signal processing to network and wireless communications theory.

Nancy Rothbard, David Pottruck Professor of Management in the Wharton School, studies the impact of emotions on work, especially in such areas as workplace motivation, teamwork, work-life balance and the multiple roles that people play at work and in families.

Emily Steiner, Associate Professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences, studies medieval English literature, including the 14th century allegorical poem “Piers Plowman¸” the relationship between literature and legal practice and medieval “macrogenres” such as encyclopedias and universal histories.

Kevin Turner, Gabel Family Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, studies surface and interface mechanics in micro- and nano-scale systems and processes, including microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturing.

2014 Penn Fellows

Paulo Arratia, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, studies the flow behavior of complex fluids, such as human blood, polymeric solutions, and colloidal suspensions.

Sara Cherry, Associate Professor of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, studies the cellular factors that regulate viral pathogenesis, especially in such mosquito-borne viruses as West Nile virus and Rift Valley Fever virus.

Justin Khoury, Associate Professor of Physics in the School of Arts and Sciences, works at the intersection of particle physics and cosmology, especially alternative theories of the early universe designed to address traditional problems of “big bang” cosmology.

Emilio Parrado, Professor of Sociology in the School of Arts and Sciences, studies migration, both within and across countries, including immigrant adaptation, international migration, and social and demographic change in Latin America.

Laura Perna, Professor in the Higher Education Division of the Graduate School of Education, studies the forces that may limit and the ways to promote educational attainment, especially among members of historically underrepresented groups.

Adriana Petryna, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, studies the social and political dimensions of science and medicine in the United States and Eastern Europe.

Ronald Rubenstein, Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine, studies novel drug therapies for cystic fibrosis, especially the use of pharmaceuticals to overcome molecular defects and “repair” dysfunctional proteins.

2013 Penn Fellows

Elisabeth Barton,associate professor of anatomy & cell biology in the School of Dental Medicine, studies muscle physiology, especially skeletal muscle repair, with the goal of developing therapies to aid in combatting muscle disease and enhance repair after injury.

William Burke-White,professor and deputy dean in the Law School,is an expert on international law and global governance who served from 2009-2011 on the Policy Planning Staff of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Adam Grant,associate professor of management in the Wharton School, studies work motivation, job design, employee initiative and proactivity, leadership, and burnout and is the author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success.

Carmen Guerra,associate professor of medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, specializes in cancer control, especially the barriers to physician recommendation and patient acceptance of cancer screening tests and procedures and the impact of literacy barriers on cancer screening.

John MacDonald,associate professor and chair of criminology in the School of Arts & Sciences, studies a wide variety of topics in criminology, including interpersonal violence, race and ethnic disparities in criminal justice, and the effectiveness of social policy responses to crime.

Kim M. Olthoff, Donald Guthrie Professor of Surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Liver Transplant Program at the Penn Transplant Institute, focuses on adult and pediatric liver transplantation, living donor transplantation, and surgery for hepatobiliary malignancies and benign liver tumors.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, associate professor and graduate group chair of history in the School of Arts & Sciences, is a cultural historian of the modern Middle East who is the author of A Different Shade of Colonialism: Egypt, Great Britain and the Mastery of the Sudan.

R. Polk Wagner, professor of law in the Law School,is an expert in intellectual property law and policy, with a special interest in patent law, and is the co-author of Patent Law (Concepts and Insights).

2012 Penn Fellows

Patricia D’Antonio, Killebrew-Centis Professor in Undergraduate Education and chair of the Department of Family and Community Health in the School of Nursing, who studies the work and worth of nursing in American hospitals and in the fabric of families and communities.

Mark Duggan, professor of business and public policy in the Wharton School, who studies the effect of government expenditure programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, on the behavior of individuals and firms.

John Hogenesch, associate professor of pharmacology in the Perelman School of Medicine, who studies the mammalian circadian clock, using both genomic and computational tools.

Benjamin Horton, associate professor of earth and environmental science in the School of Arts and Sciences, who studies the external and internal mechanisms of sea-level change, especially its relationship to climate change.

Marisa Kozlowski, professor of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, who studies the design of new methods and catalysts for organic synthesis, including both novel computational tools and traditional methods of screening and development.

Jennifer Lukes, associate professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, who studies the thermal transport phenomena that emerge in nanostructures and nanostructured materials.

Beth Winkelstein, professor of bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, who studies the mechanisms of injury that produce whiplash and sports-related and other painful injuries.

2011 Penn Fellows

Vijay Balasubramanian, Merriam Term Associate Professor of Physics in the School of Arts and Sciences, a theoretical physicist who specializes in string theory, black holes, quantum gravity, and applications of neuroscience.

Karen Beckman, Jaffe Professor of Cinema Studies and Art History in the School of Arts and Sciences, a scholar of interdisciplinary visual culture, focusing on the connections among film, photography, and modern art.

Gerard Cachon, Sullivan Professor and Chair of Operations and Information Management in the Wharton School, an expert in supply chain management, especially the impact of new technologies on competitiveness.

Marwan Kraidy, Associate Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication, a scholar of global communication, primarily in Arab media, including reality television, music videos, and the structure of the television industry.

John Lapinski, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Political Science in the School of Arts and Sciences, a scholar of Congressional lawmaking and a senior election analyst for NBC News.

Erle Robertson, Professor of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine and Director of the Tumor Virology Program at the Abramson Cancer Center, a molecular biologist and virologist whose research centers on Epstein-Barr and Kaposi’s sarcoma viruses.

2010 Penn Fellows

Lisa Bellini, Professor of Medicine and Vice Dean for Resident and Faculty Affairs in the Perelman School of Medicine, an expert on medical education, especially the effects of fatigue and sleep deprivation on patients, residents, and faculty.

Camille Charles, Edmund J. and Louis W. Kahn Term Professor in the Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Center for Africana Studies, an expert on race in America, especially in universities and urban environments.

Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine, an expert on cancer prevention, especially among minority and other underserved populations.

Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, Associate Professor of Pathology in the School of Dental Medicine, an expert on interdisciplinary approaches to the function and dysfunction of neurons, especially in HIV infection.

Randall Mason, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and Chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation in the School of Design, an expert on urban planning and the historic preservation of American cities.

Peter Struck, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Classical Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences and Director of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program, an expert on the intellectual history of ancient Greece.

2009 Penn Fellows

Eric Bradlow, K.P. Chao Professor and Professor of Marketing and Statistics at the Wharton School, an expert on applying statistical models to mathematical problems and real-world topics, such as hit songs, Internet search engines, grocery store coupons, and baseball statistics.

Charles Branas, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, an expert on improvements to public health, especially reducing gun violence and advocating for better emergency and trauma care.

Robert Carpick, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Penn Director of the Nanotechnology Institute, an expert on the nature and origins of tribology (friction) at the atomic or molecular scale.

Marybeth Gasman, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, an expert on issues of leadership, fundraising, and philanthropy at historically African-American colleges.

John Jackson, Jr., Richard Perry University Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts and Sciences and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, an expert on racial identity, especially in Harlem and Brooklyn and among Black Jews.

Joshua Metlay, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, an expert on respiratory tract infections and treatments, especially antibiotic resistance, risks, and optimal practices.

Sharon Thompson-Schill, Professor of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences, an expert on the neurological basis of memory and language, including both normal cognition and cognition in those suffering from stroke, degenerative diseases, and congenital blindness.

Sarah Tishkoff, David and Lyn Silfen University Associate Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, an expert on human genetics, especially in Africa.